Thousands of activists rallied in the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday demanding authorities update a disputed voters' list and reform the election commission ahead of next month's general polls.
The demonstrators from an alliance of 14 parties took to the streets despite the election commission's promise to start updating a contentious roll of voters from Friday.
The protesters had planned to march into the election commission. But they were stopped blocks away by security forces manning barbed-wire barricades, an agency reporter said. No violence was immediately reported.
The 14-party alliance, headed by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, says the voter list contains duplicate and fake names, and that it favors the party of her archrival Khaleda Zia, also a former premier.